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⭐10/10 I've had this movie in the back of my mind since Tim reviewed it, and like him, it was a movie I hadn't seen since it came out but one I loved then and was confident I'd love now. I watched this with a group of guys telling them that this is kinda the best movie of this variety, and by that I mean an action/thriller with government special ops and secret missions and whatever.  I think I was pretty much right. I had a few small quibbles here and there, but otherwise I think this movie is perfect. It's grounded and tight, it's led by performances by some of my favorite actors, the writing is absolutely fantastic, and like all of Villeneuve's movies, there is always something interesting to look at.  The thing that sets this movie apart is allowing for a truly difficult ethical dilemma. They are trying to find a Mexican drug lord, and Del Toro says "to find him would be like discovering a vaccine -- surely you understand the value of that....

⭐8/10 My up and down relationship with Miyazaki continues. Jess sold this one to me saying this was the most linear, logical of his movies, which is all I'm really asking for. I would say that description is probably accurate, though this movie is almost entirely plotless which helps. It is mostly a movie about two young girls moving into rural Japan and exploring life there.  I kinda loved it. It's a super cute movie with wholesome, authentic depictions of childhood in 80s rural Japan. I always connect with stories about kids in rural settings, the magic of country living, the creativity of children there. It reminded me of lots of my favorites, most notably Princess Kaguya by the actual master of anime Isao Takahata. Honestly if this movie had no fantastic elements I may have liked it more, though the monsters were nice enough.  So yeah, nice movie, not much more to add. Obviously if you are looking for a wonderful audio/visual, you will find nothing better than ...

⭐7/10 This is a movie I watched as a kid and thought it would be the perfect romantic, wholesome movie for Jess and I. It's a Tim Burton movie about a popular old man who's always told tall tales, but as he nears the end of his life, his son wants to know the truth behind them. Most of the movie is told through vignettes of when the man was young (played by Ewan McGregor) as he lives an amazing, bizarre adventure.  I was very concerned during the first half, looking over to Jess, swearing that it gets better. We both found the main character to be pretty obnoxious. They capture this type of person very well, not only someone who is a pathological bullshitter, but also completely self-absorbed, and for a guy that is supposed to be likeable we weren't feeling it. The son is kinda supposed to be the bad guy, but I would also be annoyed if my dad only told BS stories about how cool he is.  I will admit that the second half kinda got me. This movie is certainly one t...

⭐3/10 I was going to do the thing where I say that this movie was not made with me in mind and everyone has their preferences and to each their own. No! This movie is terrible and we collectively should have higher standards! This is Netflix slop in its purest form.  I get that Netflix movies are made to be watched passively with low stakes and between tiktoks. I also was not actively watching it but was in the room throughout with my switch. And I didn't need to fully watch it because within twenty minutes my thought was that I'd seen this one before! It is painfully cliche and completely unoriginal with hallmark level acting and writing that's not much better. It looks nice at times and features people that look nice, but in the year 2026 these are things that shouldn't move us. This is content, not art, and shame on us for letting this movie become a hit. 

⭐7/10 I love Del Toro in theory, a final bastion of pure creativity and bold choices in filmmaking, but man, not sure I actually love, you know, his movies. For much of this runtime I thought this would be the one to change my mind. It was a gripping tale of creation and responsibility, and I loved the macabre stylistic choices.  I think I kinda soured on it a bit as it went along. Frankenstein is always going to be a bit of a pulpy story and I appreciate that, but the choices towards the end got to be a bit silly. I also thought the ending was pretty brutal, a super rushed character arc to put a cherry on top when it really didn't need that, especially because it completely erases what made the novel special. Call me a cynic but after watching the Stranger Things final season, this felt like some Netflix intervention to make the movie a crowd pleaser and entirely take the punch out of the philosophical exploration.  I guess my other primary complaint is that this ...

⭐ 10/10 Best movie of the year alert! My mind was made up going in, but the last movie of the year ended up becoming my favourite. If you've seen Uncut Gems this is very familiar, but even more high octane. I think it slots in perfectly next to movies like There Will Be Blood or Whiplash or Tar, which focus on a single person and their relentless pursuit of a goal. Crazy enough, Marty might be the worst person out of all of those. He is conceited and inappropriate and a compulsive liar, but his level of confidence is through the roof. You immediately hate him, yet are charmed by him, and that's why I think Chalamet is giving the performance of the year here. He is earnest in real life, so this feels so lived in and believable. You can't believe how confidently he can string together lies, and then when he's playing table tennis you want him to win. This is a long movie that leaves you breathless the entire time, flying from set piece to set piece, with some insane side...

⭐5/10 Third movie of the marathon and the second one I'm reviewing here.  Worse than I thought! I was not paying close attention by this movie, and I'm not sure if that's my fault or the movie's. After the second movie, I found this one to be super slow and dull. Lots of conversations, a super intricate and convoluted plot, less pleasant to look at, a little too hallucinogenic, a little too dreamy. Maybe this movie would be better if it hadn't been hours 7 through 11, but yeah, this was getting closer to the Marvel formula with a long, meaningless action sequence at the end where I felt nothing.  Still some things to like. Great costumes, awesome sets. But I wasn't into it. 

⭐8/10 Part of a movie marathon so I'm only kinda half-watching these.  Better than I thought! I was under the impression that there was one good movie in this series and the rest were mailed in, but this movie totally rocks. The CGI looks absolutely incredible for 2006, the music is sublime, another fun performance from Depp, and an action sequence to knock your socks off. Really excellent movie and it made me wish modern blockbusters were more like this. It's nice to look at, to listen to, and clearly there was love and care taken. A solid, somewhat complex plot, great costumes, some pretty funny moments. Yeah, not much to complain about here. 

⭐10/10 I'd seen this one a time or two, but it had been a few years and I was hazy on the details. I was a little worried that it maybe wasn't as good as I remembered, but no, this is a true masterpiece and the ultimate Christmas movie for a reason. A few spoilers ahead for this 80 year old movie.  My initial thought was that the setup is completely different than what I remembered. For the ninety minutes, there is no hint that this is a Christmas movie. I thought this was about half setup, and then the angel comes in for the second half, but it really is only about the final 30 minutes. Up until then, it's this incredibly compelling story of James Bailey having all the potential in the world, but life gets in the way and he is forced to watch as all his friends and family surpass him. I think the reason this works so well is that James Stewart is actually incredibly likeable in this role. You root for him to succeed, but he tries to do the right thing, and even...

⭐4/10 I really didn't enjoy this one. It's about Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor who's star is fading in 50s Hollywood, as well as Brad Pitt as his stuntman and they... I dunno, don't do much. Margot Robbie is also in this movie and she... well I guess she also doesn't do anything either. It's certainly not a plot-driven movie, and that's fine except I think that really doesn't mesh well with Tarantino's signature style, and he really can't go away from his style.  Speaking of Tarantino, it's very hard to seperate him from my opinion of this movie. He's about as cancelled as someone can be without actually being found guilty of something, and all the yucky hallmarks were super present here. Lots of women being hot and over-sexualized, lots of gratuitous violence, lots of gratuitous violence towards over-sexualized women. I don't think I would have enjoyed all the icky stuff in this movie under any circumstances, but after th...

⭐ 7/10 It's only worth seeing these movies in theatres, but if you saw 2 you have seen this one as well. 2 was a rerun of 1 in almost every sense, but in this one they reused the entire second half of the last one, in many cases I thought I was getting dejavu with the exact same battle scene. It was a real disappointment. This movie looks great, of course. Marvel dreams of a world where they could spend this long on their movies and make them not look like absolute garbage. Its impressive how transporting this is, it doesn't really feel like a fantasy world, it actually looks like a different planet. Everyone knows this, but its all I can think about while watching, since the story is certainly not going to blow you away. The dialogue is trash, the kids still all say "bro" and "cuz", and Jake is a bad dad. I will say I thought the first half of this movie was excellent. There is a stunning battle in the first third that blew me away, which is then followed ...

⭐9/10 This is the movie for the book I just reviewed as I went through them concurrently. I actually watched this one years ago, closer to when it came out, and although some images have haunted me all these years, I can't say it had the effect then that it has now.  I mean, that's the beauty of having a story told via different mediums, both versions helping to enhance the other. I won't do the same long spiel here, but all those thoughts about bleakness and overcoming dread were true here. However, I do think the movie was different than the book in that there seems to be a bit more hope. This movie has a haunting beauty throughout, something I didn't think was necessarily present in the book, mostly because the movie adds beautiful music throughout.  In fact, I would say there is far more of an emotional range in the movie. McCarthy's writing style is quite understated, and so the drama of seeing half eaten corpses is far more visceral when given a vi...

⭐8.5/10 I'm a big fan of these and will watch anything Rian Johnson wants to make. It's kinda the quintessential Netflix movie: sharp writing, entertaining, a little modern moralizing, looks good not great, and you'll love your time watching it but forget about it in a week. Nothing wrong with that!  Like Tim mentioned, this one has faith at the center, and I do like that this topic is being tackled my modern voices in interesting ways. This is the second movie I've watched this year with a good-hearted priest as the protagonist, and it's a trend I can get behind. It beats the assumption that priests are pedophiles or homophobes, though this movie makes clear that there is certainly plenty of those too. All of this is to say that I liked the non-mystery elements of this movie. There were lots of great and interesting characters, led by Josh O'Connor, and some genuinely touching moments.  The mystery wasn't bad either. I think Rian Johnson...

⭐8/10 I'm not sure if this is worth reviewing because it's only thirty minutes and a beloved classic. But I'd never seen it before! So it was a nice little treat with some cute lines and terrific music. I love seeing what kids movies were like sixty years ago. A ton of this is stuff no kid would ever understand, so lots for the adults.  Yeah, it's classic, it's charming, it's worth thirty minutes. Somebody needs to put down that dirty child tho. He is suffering. 

⭐2/10 We are STRUGGLING to find any Christmas movies that aren't terrible this year.  If this movie wasn't made in 2019, you'd be convinced it was written by AI. You have never seen a more generic, cliche romcom in your life. The writing is truly awful. It must have been written by someone who has only watched movies and has never had a real human interaction in their life. It is actually crazy that this was made within the last decade because it feels distinctly like a corny 80s movie, complete by the fact that it's clearly written by an old white guy fantasizing about his 20s. It's a small movie that nobody watched, so I had low standards, but yeesh.  It's about... you know what, who cares. A pretty girl likes a boy, and for a moment you can get behind the romance but only because they are young and attractive. But it takes a bunch of lame, eye-rolling turns and we stopped with about 30 minutes left.  But I still looked at the Wiki! Here's the ...

⭐ 9/10 This movie has been on my list ever since it came out, but I always knew it was a tough watch. The perfect time presented itself and I dove in. This is about two Jesuit priests, Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield, searching for an older priest and mentor, Liam Neeson, who has gone missing in Japan. Japan at this time mercilessly persecuted Christians, so they are going to find out what happened to him, but also in fear that he potentially renounced his faith, something they don't believe he could possibly do. This movie is beautiful, two priests living as hiding hermits as they preach to smaller villages that are desperate for what they have to offer. They inevitably get caught, and then Andrew Garfield is the main character, as he witness the true pain that people go through for their belief, and his own resolve is shaken. There is pain and torture, but set starkly against stunning vistas and painterly framing. The imagery is clearly meant to evoke Christ, even blatantly show...

⭐ 9/10 I was a bit more negative on the last one in the series, but my goodness what a delight it is to have another one of these movies. Clever, lots of wit in the writing, thematically relevant, mysteries that keep you completely engaged through the whole runtime. From the opening scene I could feel my mind working in a way I love, not really crafting theories but trying to remember names and details since everything is important and will pay off later. I've realized a lot of the things I watch are kind of punishing, so its such a treat to have something so fun and engaging. Where the last one was about rich people during Covid, which didn't really interest me, this one is about faith! I was also surprised at how this movie used its big cast of stars. In the past it has felt really balanced, with Benoit Blanc as the main character (at least that's how I remember it). This one is Josh O'Connor's movie, and I love this guy! He's helping investigate, is also a s...

⭐4/10 "Imagine yammy-ing in my sister's handbag!" This movie is bad. There are some genuine laughs sprinkled in, but they are entirely by minor characters. The main cast is terrible, all a bunch of annoying people who never redeem themselves. Tough watch. 

⭐ 8.5/10 In this movie Joel Edgerton is a brooding guy who cuts down trees and is lonely and sad, except when he gets precious moments with his wife and kid. That, plus the beautiful cinematography, are all you need for this to be a great movie. It looks stunning, and every time a tree came down it looked more beautiful than the last time. I thought the first 45 minutes or so were perfect, this hard man living a hard life trying to build a family. It had me thinking of There Will Be Blood, a depiction of the blooming of American industry, but this being forestry instead of oil. Where Daniel Plainview 100% capitalist,  Edgerton's character is just working to provide for his family. There is a sadness in the way these trees come down, although it might be me reflecting his mood over it. There is this poignant scene where he is on a train many years later, and he goes past one of the railways he helped to build that is no longer in use, and that was the feeling this movie left me wit...

⭐ 7/10 This is a kids movie that follows the Christmas story from the POV of a bunch of animals. Cute concept, but nothing really memorable in this aside from the insanely stacked voice cast. Ezra liked it and has asked to watch it again, which is the first time that has happened with any movie, so that's something. A bit weird that their needs to be a villain in this, some great big Roman guard, could have just been a nice Nativity story from a different angle. Whatever, silly to even put a score on this. Not a classic by any means, but it gets points for having a fun premise.